Hi All!

While I sit here drinking tea there are brownies baking in the oven so forgive me if I get a little distracted.

This is a post I keep meaning to do but was a little intimidated with tackling it. I have mentioned this previously but I have pretty awful skin and this post is a prelude/introduction to a small project of mine related to that. I know that having bad skin might seem pretty minimal (and in a lot of ways it definitely is) but this doesn’t mean I can’t try to deal with it or talk about it in an honest way. I’m not looking to complain specifically but more just provide a perspective that is mine and perhaps may be similar to some other people out there and that will help explain why I am starting this series of posts.

I get a lot of eczema and just generally dry, angry, resentful skin issues. I have had skin issues since before I can remember although there has always been periods where it was fine and then where it got bad. Now it just seems to be barely manageable (at a stretch) and has become part of how I define myself.  I choose outfits based on how well they are going to cover my skin. I wear tights and scarves to hide redness which is fine in Winter but becomes a little challenging in the Summer. I can only wear makeup on the rare days where my skin feels mostly normal (it seems cruel that when my skin is at its worst it is too dry to try and attempt to hide with makeup, or my super-sensitive buddy  just decides to react to the makeup and get even worse. Awesome). I shy away from any cameras because I hate the way my skin looks and seeing it just makes me angry. I sleep terribly and although it is not just my skin feeling sore and uncomfortable 24/7 can become frustrating.

The only thing that controls my skin is bursts of prednisone/hyrdrocortisone and other things that are great but not really beneficial or healthy for my skin/body in the long term. I should warn you that I have done zero research for this post because my goal isn’t to create a new Wikipedia page or act like I know what I am talking about,  I just want to describe how it seems to me personally. I’m not a dermatologist and all I know is that my skin feels like it is slowly getting worse in the long term not better. It reacts to more things more easily and is just generally less controllable. Hydrocortisone creams and short bursts of prednisone are great (and usually necessary) when my skin flies out of control but they really just treat the symptom at the surface and don’t do anything in the long term at making my skin and overall health better, in fact it is more likely doing damage over time and overuse.

One thing I have learnt is that we are responsible for our emotions  so for me it was a decision to stop wallowing in these kinds of thoughts and try and actually deal with it. So after a slightly negative and rambly intro (sorry) here is my project for the foreseeable future.

The plan is to choose different trials/experiments and run them for two weeks whilst keeping a diary to monitor as best as I can how certain changes I make affect my skin as well as my general health. Types of trials include diet related ones like no dairy products as well as more lifestyle focused changes like going to the gym more often or focusing on improving my mental state. Obviously there are so many factors involved it can be close to impossible to know what factors are causing what outcomes but there is no harm trying. This is a way I can try and proactively find a better solution that medication and take some control of my skin. If two weeks of a certain change has an effect than a longer trial may help confirm the effects. I have just finished my first fortnight trial of going gluten free and will be posting about how I found it as well as some restaurant/cafe/meal tips that I found but I thought an introduction may be in order first. I also thought that in this series I could talk about some skin care options that have worked well for me (though they are few and far between).

I know a lot of people won’t be interested in this but I started a blog to focus on things that are important to me and trying to improve my skin is definitely something I think about a lot. If anyone reading has any tips for sensitive skin/eczema or something similar than please share. Likewise if you have any tips for changes to my lifestyle/diet that I should try let me know.

Hope you guys are having a great week See you soon with a going gluten free post!

Xx